Mary TV September 16, 2014 Reflection - Our Lady's Apostles

We are God's Plan!  (c) Mary TV 2014              J.M.J September 16, 2014 Sts. Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop , Martyrs Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children,  I, your mother, am coming anew among you out of love which has no end, from endless love of the endless Heavenly Father. And as I am looking into your hearts I see that many of you accept me as a mother and, with sincere and pure hearts, you desire to be my apostles...." (September 2, 2014) I have transcribed another remarkable homily from English Mass in Medjugorje. It is from Mass on September 15, Our Lady of Sorrows. The priest is from England, Fr Simon Broughton, who shares very beautifully about Our Mother, Mary, in her sorrow and her joy: Couple of weeks ago, I am from England, there was this good old priest. Loads of people gathered around him, and he said to them, "It is good for us to be here." And all of a sudden a little child of about 5 or 6 years of age, tugged at his mom and said, "Mom, when can we go home?" But you and I, we are home. This is our home. And we gather with our Mother Mary today, even if she is crying. When a mother cries it is for a good reason. It is either out of joy or out of sorrow. And it doesn't matter what age we are, whether we are young or old, we seem to know when someone is crying whether it is out of joy or sorrow. I'll take you back a little, to when I was about 5 or 6 years of age, my mom and dad were struggling to pay the bills. They were struggling with everything, to be honest. And I remember mom, she was melting butter in a Pyrex dish in the oven. And even then as a young child I understood the difficulties. Mom took the Pyrex dish out of the oven, and it was very hot, and suddenly it smashed into a thousand pieces on the floor. And at once my mom began to cry. And I looked at her and I wanted to change that sorrow into joy. So immediately the 5 year old child within me said, "Mom, look! Diamonds!" And mom did exactly what you did (laugh), the tears were no longer tears of sorrow, they were actually tears of joy. When we come to this place (Medjugorje) Mary wants to take our sorrow and turn it into a moment of grace, turn it into a moment of joy with the Lord. Pope Francis said just a few weeks ago, "Sometimes we need the tears in order to see Jesus more clearly." How right and true that is. We only have to look at the world, our families, our relationships. You put the television on, read the newspapers, you listen to the radio...We are bombarded every moment with something going wrong in the world. And yet our Mother comes to us, and she comes close. Yesterday was the Exaltation of the Cross, the Triumph of the Cross. Today we take our rightful place with Mother at the foot of the Cross. You see, for the early Christians, they used to say holding the Cross, almost like a taunt, they would say, "Is this the best you can do? Crucify us." Because they knew that heaven was waiting for them. Mary calls each and every one of us to take our rightful place with her at the foot of the Cross. We cannot bypass the Cross. If we are true, we have to look at the Cross and embrace it. But we are not alone. Because Mary, our Mother, was given to us at the foot of the Cross, and it is there that we enjoy her company. John was told by Jesus at the Cross, "Son, behold your mother." "Mother, behold your son." From that moment we are told that john took Mary into his home, in other words, into his heart. Mary has called you here to come into her heart, but she also wants you and I to take her back home, and to make a place for God in our lives back there at home. You see the world it getting it wrong, because, you see, the world is going their way, not God's way. And it is when we walk away from God that disaster comes, destruction, sadness, sickness, everything comes. But it is when we walk with the Lord that we find joy and happiness. And we look forward to the eternal. Our Mother said to us this month, "How much my heart suffers." She tells us why her heart suffers, she says, "Because Satan wants to destroy my plan." You are God's plan. You are our Mother's plan. That is why she says to you, "You are my apostles." Apostles of light...in other words, you are to take this light from the Scriptures and live them. She reminds us of our way forward in life. She says, "Prayer, conversion, fasting, penance, Eucharist." She gives us a new way ahead in life. She gives us the way that gives life and blessing. But many of us when we come here, forget that we are God's plan. Our Lady reminds us again, in the early days. She says to us "Without you, my plan will not come to fruition." Each and every one of us is being called because we are children of God. And we need to realize that in our lives, each and every moment. We have to make a home with God. In Argentina, there was a lady who was struck by lightning, and she was killed straight out. And she received a great grace from God. Jesus stood with her when she passed from this life into the next. And she saw the whole of the earth in darkness. And she was fearful. Then she realized that Jesus stood next to her. And He said to her, "Look." And immediately she saw little lights around the whole of the globe. And Jesus said, "These are the people who are praying for you." At that moment the fear left her. And she was filled with immense joy, and gratitude. She woke up in the mortuary. I wonder who got the bigger shock that day, the mortician or the Argentinian woman! You see God gives us these gifts, He sends His Mother to us because he knows that you and I, we get it wrong time and time again. So we need our Mother close by us. If we listen to the voice of the Gospel, the voice of our Mother, the voice of Jesus, we will not be full of fear. We will be people full of hope, people full of life. We will be people, as our Mother says, who are apostles. The Greek word, apostolos, means to teach. She is saying to you and me, "You have been many times here, in the school of your Mother", and now she is saying to us "Now is the time to teach one another, but not with words, but with actions, actions of love, of gentleness, and of silent prayer. And together we fulfill God's plan. For we are God's plan." Thank you, Fr. Broughton! Thank you!!! God is so organic. He grows apostles in the seed bed of His love and mercy. He is the Creator. He can do it. We can be His plan, because He has created us with all the possibilities necessary to become His plan of blessing in the world. We have only to say "yes" and let Him work in us. This is so amazing! It is not a program set up and imposed on us from without. It is a way of being that is nurtured within us through His great love for us, His grace given to us. As we pray, fast, convert, confess, receive the Eucharist and read scripture, we are fed by the Lord and made ready. And so we become God's plan. We are His solution for a fallen world. Because Jesus lives in us!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2014

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